Say if someone had some illness that required ongoing medical care, what if they don’t have insurance? Do they just get left to suffer in pain and die? What about children and the elderly and people who have been in the armed forces? Are they all just left? Why don’t they have an NHS like us?

5 Responses to “What happens to people in America who don’t have health insurance?”

Well veterans (with honorable discharge) have some medical care but it’s usefulness is debatable. With children, single parents are often eligible for certain government plans but married parents with marginal income are seen as rich enough to pay for health care themselves. There are A LOT of people who live without getting medical care that they would like to get or really need to get for the simple fact “I can’t afford it.” Not to mention preventative care that gets dismissed which would have prevented more serious and costly illnesses later on.

people who are classed as poor use state hospitals for Medicare paid for by taxes. Those who do not have insurance and are not considered poor pay out of their pocket. That is why some have to mortgage homes to afford the costs of treatment for catastrophic illnesses.

Those who have served enough time in the Armed Forces are, upon retirement, eligible for ongoing medical care from the military health care system under the Tricare program.

I believe there are around 60 million Americans who have no medical insurance at all.

You are obviously British and the UK has chosen to have universal health care like we have here in Canada. Neither system is perfect and necessarily better than the US system, just different.